Magnolia Grove, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail

Magnolia Grove is a 54-hole golf complex in the northwest corner of Mobile, Mobile County. Part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail developed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA), it was the second site to open on The Trail (June 1992). It is located on 650 acres in the larger 1,500-acre Miller Park and is leased from the city of Mobile at essentially no cost.

The golf complex has two 18-hole courses, Crossings and Falls, and one 18-hole par-3 course. The site is a natural wetland environment with creeks, lakes, and undisturbed marshes along with soft rolling sand hills, slash pine trees, and magnolia trees. The Crossings Course is hillier than the Falls Course, which plays out to a lake and small waterfall and back again. The par-3 course plays over many marshes. The Crossings Course has hosted a number of Ladies Professional Golf Association tournaments with international TV coverage on the Golf Channel. There is a practice range that is the nearby University of South Alabama's home course, a 35,000-square-foot club house with pro shop, grill, meeting rooms, and a maintenance shed.

The initial access to the complex came from Schillinger Road and a new access road was completed in 1995 from Moffett Road. This new road opened property for residential development, with more than 200 houses having been built adjacent to the golf complex. Additionally, the course is served by two RSA-owned hotels in downtown Mobile that are managed by Marriott International. The Battle House Renaissance Hotel and Spa has 207 guest rooms, 31 suites, an historic lobby, four restaurants, two ballrooms, a spa, a lap pool, a hot tub, and 35,000 square feet of meeting space. There are 112 guest rooms in the original structure and 126 rooms on floors four through seven in the adjacent 35-story RSA Battle House Tower. This hotel opened in 1852, burned down in 1905, was reconstructed in 1908, and closed in 1974. The roof was ravaged by Hurricane Frederick in 1979 and suffered substantial water damage. RSA acquired it in 2002 and finished refurbishment to its original state in 2007 despite one year lost from damage incurred by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

RSA's second hotel is the 28-story Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel. It reopened in 2007 with 363 guest rooms, 11 suites, 32,000 square feet of meeting space, 14,000 square feet of outdoor event space, two restaurants, a swimming pool, fitness center, and a covered walkway to the Mobile Convention Center and its 317,000 square feet of meeting space. Each room has a view of the Mobile River and Mobile Bay. It opened in 1983 as the Stouffer's Riverview Plaza Hotel which later became the Adam's Mark Hotel and was eventually purchased by RSA in 2004. A total renovation completed in 2008 included a new roof, an aluminum crown with a spire matching the RSA Battle House Tower's spire, a canopied main entrance on Royal Street, and refurbishment of all guest rooms and meeting rooms.

Currently in the midst of a multimillion-dollar renovation to be completed by summer 2021, the Renaissance Riverview was named Marriott's "2018 Franchise Hotel of the Year." Some of its other awards include the Pinnacle Award from Successful Meetings Magazine, "Stars of the South Award" from Meetings South Magazine, and "Readers' Choice Award" from Convention South Magazine. It has been ranked as a "Top 3 Renaissance Hotel for Guest Satisfaction, Meetings, and Quality" and in 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked it number 12 of the top 25 hotels in Alabama.

Additional Resources

Fagan, Mark. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail: Its History and Economic Impact. Montgomery, Ala.: NewSouth Books, 2016.